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☆ Bitcoin is a solution looking for a problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Since his Miami proclamations, bitcoin’s price has fallen by nearly 40%, though in the last few weeks after Silicon Valley Bank’s failure it has had a resurgence. At first glance, his prediction seems wildly optimistic but directionally reasonable – bitcoin has surged by over 35% since SVB’s collapse on March 10. What’s more, bitcoin may never have surpassed $60,000 to reach its highest-ever price level in 2021 had the Fed not kept interest rates consistently low. It’s the prospect of lower rates – not the lack of government stability – that is opening the door to riskier bets like those on bitcoin. Gold is a tangible asset, unlike bitcoin, and that’s precisely what makes it an inflation hedge.

☆ Keith Rabois says Shopify brands have 'a lot of room' to grow, and his startup, OpenStore, just launched a new product to help with that
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Keith Rabois' startup, OpenStore, is launching a new service for Shopify merchants. Keith Rabois founded OpenStore in 2021 with the idea of scooping up Shopify stores and using economies of scale to supercharge their sales. OpenStore has acquired more than 40 Shopify stores so far, says Rabois, a venture capitalist who placed early bets on DoorDash, Affirm, Stripe, and Faire. That makes OpenStore the largest owner and operator of Shopify brands in the world, he told Insider in a recent interview. However, there's "a lot of room" to grow Shopify brands, he added.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's parent company cut off from bank's records
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SVB Financial has no employees of its own, and the new bank's employees "cut off access" to a substantial portion of SVB Financial's "books, records, files, electronic systems and key employees," according to Kosturos. The FDIC receivership removed SVB Financial's primary source of liquidity and most of its business infrastructure, as well as triggering defaults on SVB Financial's debt, forcing the company into bankruptcy, according to court documents. SVB Financial's court filings listed $19 billion in assets, $2.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and $3.4 billion in liabilities. About $15.5 billion of SVB Financial's asset value was attributed to the SVB banking business that was seized by regulators. Those investment funds include direct venture funds that invest in companies, funds-of-funds that invest in other venture capital funds, and debt funds that provide lending and other financing solutions to startups.

☆ An influencer who scouts for VC firms breaks down 5 beauty industry trends to watch in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Nhari Djan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The fund is the part of VC firm BrainTrust that invests in Black beauty and wellness companies. Newby shared her top five trends to watch in the beauty industry in 2023. "That would not have been enough time for a brand to to basically create an entire slugging product," Newby said. "I believe, contrary to many, that red carpet and Fashion Week beauty trends still drive a lot," Newby said. Black skincare brands are evolving their formulas, and will lead the clinical skincare industryAs an investor in Black founders, Newby has noticed that Black skincare brands are developing more advanced formulas.

☆ Patch is transforming empty buildings into community hotspots for locals. Check out the 11-slide pitch deck it used to secure $3 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

London-based Patch has secured $3 million from JamJar Investments and the founder of PureGym. The startup converts local buildings into community-based workspaces for a range of events. Check out the 11-slide deck Patch used to raise the fresh funds. Patch aims to revive the remnants of these empty local buildings into multi-purpose community hotspots, giving locals an accessible venue to work and socialize. The startup makes its money in two ways; its community members pay a membership fee starting at £24 a month, which gives them access to these community spaces.

☆ Key banking crisis lesson: 'The first line of defense should always be cash,' advisor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

People wait outside the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, to withdraw funds after the federal government intervened upon the bank's collapse, on March 13, 2023. watch now"The first line of defense should always be cash," said Braxton, who is a member of CNBC's Financial Advisor Council. Without liquidity, SVB couldn't "absorb the shock of the cash run," and had to sell its assets at the wrong time, she said. It's a valuable lesson for investors who may someday face their own cash crunch due to a job loss or another financial emergency, Braxton said. The first line of defense should always be cash.

☆ Walmart pumps $200 mln in Indian fintech PhonePe in ongoing fundraise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, March 17 (Reuters) - Indian digital payments firm PhonePe said on Friday it has raised $200 million from majority backer Walmart Inc (WMT.N) at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion. PhonePe, already India's most valuable payments firm and among the country's most highly-valued startups, said the investment is part of its ongoing fundraise of up to $1 billion. American retail behemoth Walmart, which acquired a majority share in PhonePe in 2018, will continue as a majority investor, the Indian company said, without disclosing its stake. PhonePe said it plans to deploy these funds to build and scale new businesses including insurance, wealth management and lending. The relocation, according to some reports, was to ensure an easier entry into the country's highly-regulated financial services industry, especially lending.

☆ Tiger Global Writes Down Venture Funds’ Bets by 33% in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Juliet Chung | Eliot Brown | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Manhattan offices of Tiger Global, which has invested in hundreds of companies including TikTok’s parent. Tiger Global marked down the value of its investments in private companies by about 33% across its venture-capital funds in 2022, according to people familiar with the firm. The markdowns erased $23 billion in value from Tiger’s giant holdings of startups around the globe, one of the people said. Its private portfolio includes big bets on hundreds of companies including TikTok parent ByteDance and payments company Stripe. In the fourth quarter, Tiger’s newest venture funds lost between 9% and 25%.

☆ The SVB Tremors Will Shake SoftBank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jacky Wong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SoftBank has invested in hundreds of startups through the $100 billion Vision Fund and its successor. SoftBank isn’t a bank, but the Japanese company—which has bankrolled many tech startups—will still be rocked by the seismic waves triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Shares of the Japanese tech investor have lost 14% in the past week. Some of the worst potential outcomes for SoftBank—such as mass failures of startups it invested in—seem unlikely after the U.S. government stepped in this week to fully guarantee the bank’s deposits, which are mostly from startups and venture capital funds. SoftBank said SVB’s demise is unlikely to have a material impact on its portfolio companies after the government’s decision.

☆ Inside the opaque tech market where startup employees and early investors are trying to get rich now IPOs have collapsed and the VC party is over
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Startup employees and early investors tended to get rich at IPO or acquisition. That's the tough reality for startup employees and early investors as IPOs drop off and venture capital funding dries up. There's a glut of highly valued, late-stage private companies that should be debuting on stock exchanges in the next 12 to 36 months. Share options held by employees and investors can also come with an array of terms and conditions that make them harder to liquidate. "Investors are defending valuations that hurt employees – and companies long term – but help them raise their new funds.

REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoLONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Investment managers Bridgewater Associates, Millennium Management and Marshall Wace added to short positions on European banking shares after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sparked contagion fears across global banks, according to data from Breakout Point. Short sellers had amassed bearish positions worth more than $15.7 billion against European banks by Tuesday, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Millennium Management, Citadel, Wellington Management, Capital Fund Management, Odey Asset Management and Marshall Wace declined to comment. Marshall Wace held the largest disclosed number of short positions against banks, public filings from Austria, Italy, Sweden, Britain, Spain and Poland analysed by Breakout Point showed. Its shares were up 18% at 1602 GMT, in a broader European banking index (.SX7P) up 1.4%In the week to Wednesday, some 120 billion euros had been wiped off the value of European bank shares.

☆ SVB Collapse Threatens Funding Source for Climate Startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Ed Ballard | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sublime Systems Chief Executive Leah Ellis was about to go on stage at a big energy-industry conference on Thursday when her phone was flooded with messages urging her to withdraw her company’s funds from Silicon Valley Bank. “In the middle of presenting and being interviewed, I was there getting my cofounder to fill out paperwork,” she said. Sublime, based in Somerville, Mass., has developed a way of producing low-carbon cement. The company raised $40 million in venture-capital funding in January, most of which was sitting in its SVB account.

Credit Suisse's shares were trading down nearly 22% in Zurich on Wednesday, and the cost of buying insurance against the risk of a Credit Suisse default hit a new record high, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Customers withdrew billions from Credit Suisse last year, contributing to the bank’s biggest annual loss since the global financial crisis in 2008. On Tuesday, it acknowledged “material weakness” in its financial reporting and scrapped bonuses for top executives. Outflows from the bank had “significantly moderated” after customers withdrew 111 billion francs ($122 billion) in the three months to December, Körner added. Körner said the collapse of SVB was “somewhat of an isolated problem.” Credit Suisse follows “materially different and higher standards when it comes to capital funding, liquidity and so on,” he added.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the chairman of the Saudi National Bank said it would not increase its stake in Credit Suisse. The Saudi National Bank — which describes itself as the kingdom’s biggest bank — committed $1.5 billion of the $4 billion in new capital Credit Suisse raised to fund its overhaul. Credit Suisse declined to comment. Customers withdrew billions from Credit Suisse last year, contributing to the bank’s biggest annual loss since the global financial crisis in 2008. Körner said the collapse of SVB was “somewhat of an isolated problem.” Credit Suisse follows “materially different and higher standards when it comes to capital funding, liquidity and so on,” he added.

☆ This CEO halved her personal savings to meet payroll after SVB collapse: 'I don't really know yet what the repercussions will be'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Flex Co. CEO Lauren Schulte Wang and her husband took out half of their personal savings to fund employees' paychecks after SVB crashed. They withdrew half of the money in their personal savings account, and deposited it into a brand-new account set up last Friday. Wang and her husband are The Flex Company's co-founders, and serve as CEO and CFO, respectively. When Wang tried to transfer her company's money, which she says represented 100% of its liquid capital, the bank's website crashed. On Monday, the last of The Flex Company's 30,000-plus retail locations finally switched over to the new account.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank seizure leaves a massive hole — and a large opportunity — in the world of climate finance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"Nobody understands startups as well as Silicon Valley Bank and how to lend to them," says Zachary Bogue, a long-time tech investor and cofounder of DCVC. "Silicon Valley Bank understood that even though we may have only had $10,000 or so in deposits at the time, we had a lot of potential," Clerico told CNBC. "That early investment in our relationship paid off," Clerico told CNBC. In this, the bank "was a climate bank pioneer," said Steph Speirs, co-founder and CEO of Solstice Power Technologies, which has built a technology to help connect people to community solar projects. But it will take some time, and delays can be costly in the fight against climate change," Bhatraju told CNBC.

☆ SVB's failure will have a ripple effect across technology 'for years to come'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The 40-year old institution had an intimate link to the technology world offering traditional banking services as well as funding companies that were deemed too risky for traditional lenders. SVB also provided other services like credit lines and lines to startups. But over the past year, the U.S. Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates, hurting the once high-flying technology sector. SVB's collapse has come at an already difficult time for startup investors. The SVB collapse will also likely put the focus on startups to pivot to profitability and be more disciplined with their spending.

Like many other banks, SVB ploughed billions into US government bonds during the era of near-zero interest rates. What seemed like a safe bet quickly came unstuck, as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates aggressively to tame inflation. When interest rates rise, bond prices fall, so the jump in rates eroded the value of SVB’s bond portfolio. The bank’s stock plummeted 60% Thursday and dragged other bank shares down with it. By Friday morning, trading in SVB shares was halted and it had abandoned efforts to raise capital or find a buyer.

In the short-term, regulators have found a solution for Silicon Valley Bank depositors and, we hope, calmed the fears of a wider run on regional banks. The much admired U.S. system for producing innovation has just received a body blow, and the turmoil that led to the death of Silicon Valley Bank isn't over. Silicon Valley Bank, founded in 1983, was born in a time when Silicon Valley was a synonym for "tech" and "innovation." SVB was the crown jewel of banks and the venture capital industry, not just in Silicon Valley, but globally. It's easy to picture these as large firms, and a tiny handful of famous venture firms have hundreds of employees.

With assets of around 5.5 billion pounds and deposits of around 6.7 billion pounds, SVB UK is a minnow compared to HSBC. The situation was urgent because SVB UK had lost almost half of its deposits in the 48 hours leading up to its rescue, the source said. Officials from the Bank of England and Treasury along with board members from SVB UK were then locked in talks. HSBC also plans to inject 2 billion pounds of liquidity into SVB UK, a spokesperson for HSBC said. Advisory firm Rothschild, which advised SVB UK according to sources, also declined to comment.

☆ Why Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and what it could mean
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —Silicon Valley Bank collapsed with astounding speed on Friday. A Brinks armored truck sits parked in front of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank headquarters on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1983, Silicon Valley Bank was, just before collapsing, America’s 16th largest commercial bank. Like many other banks, SVB ploughed billions into US government bonds during the era of near-zero interest rates. By Friday morning, trading in SVB shares was halted and it had abandoned efforts to raise capital or find a buyer.

Chinese start-ups and fund managers said they are still looking to move their money out of SVB once they can. Such banks have offered account services similar to those of SVB, but found it hard to crack the U.S. bank's dominance among early-stage start-ups in China, where SVB has operated for more than two decades and has a local joint venture. STILL HUNTINGSome venture funds said they were in a quandary as SVB had certain advantages and was especially friendly to early-stage start ups. "Not a lot of banks are friendly to venture capital." "But the market space left by SVB will be filled by the next bank, which is an opportunity," said Chen, whose company counts Sequoia Capital China and Wu Capital among its investors and banks with SVB.

☆ Australian tech firms say they don't have material exposure to SVB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, March 13 (Reuters) - Several Australian and New Zealand tech firms said on Monday they did not have material exposure to Silicon Valley Bank following the failure of the U.S. startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O) last week. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government was aware some Australian firms have been impacted but added the country's "institutions are solid (and) our banking sector is well-capitalised." Australian design technology firm Canva said the majority of its cash was outside SVB and that it had "safety nets in place" to ensure its operations were not compromised. Friday's failure of SVB Financial Group, which focuses on technology startups, was the biggest bank collapse in the United States since the 2008 financial crisis. On Sunday, state regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank (SBNY.O), the second bank failure in two days, as the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve unveiled a range of measures to stabilise the banking system.

☆ The tech industry avoided an ‘extinction-level event,’ but it’s not unscathed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —For much of the weekend, Silicon Valley scrambled to find a way through what one prominent tech investor described as an “extinction-level event for startups” after the collapse of a top lender in the industry. “You can feel the collective *sigh*,” Ryan Hoover, a tech founder and investor wrote on Twitter Sunday. SVB’s collapse also risks changing how the world, and prospective recruits, think of Silicon Valley. The bank worked with nearly half of all venture-backed tech and healthcare companies in the United States. President Joe Biden emphasized in remarks Monday that “no losses will be borne by the taxpayers” related to the government’s intervention for Silicon Valley Bank.

[1/2] A notice hangs on the door of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) located in San Francisco, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. "Silicon Valley Bank cannot be allowed to fail given the vital community it serves," Bank of London co-founder and CEO Anthony Watson said. But an executive at a major UK bank said it was unlikely a high street lender would buy SVB UK because its credit products would not be a good fit for a mainstream bank. EXISTENTIAL THREATMore than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday calling for government intervention and warned of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector, a copy seen by Reuters shows. Sunak has said he wants to turn Britain into the "next Silicon Valley".

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